Non-local exchange goods are prominent in anthropological models of socio-political change because exchange goods can accrue value directly as a function of scarcity, labor input, or through social and symbolic reference. As discussed above under the subject of practical goods and prestige goods, a given object may move between practical and prestige categories in different places, times, and social contexts. The availability of an item in a given milieu communicates not only the relative scarcity but, for alienable goods, the exchange value of that item; such items may also contain allusions to distant regions, social groups, and esoteric knowledge.

Theoretical models assert that in order for sacredness or exotic power to be conferred through possession of non-local goods, those goods cannot be widely available or mutable in economic circles accessible to just anyone (Clark and Blake 1994;Goldstein 2000). The possession and circulation of these goods have also been considered as part of a network strategy, distinct from a corporate strategy, towards acquiring influence and leadership (Blanton, et al. 1996). These goods may have served as indicators of long-distance association for trade and alliance, and also have served as a means of differentiation during this time of incipient political competition. In another approach, one that focuses on differential reproductive success, Craig and Aldenderfer (in press) use costly-signaling theory in a formal, biological adaptationist framework to model the development of social inequalities through the differential use of obsidian in southern Peru at the Archaic and Formative transition. Exotic materials have been used to demarcate commonplace from supernatural referents, or are at least part of a constellation of behavior and objects that signal status difference.

A pattern noted frequently by archaeologists is that close to the source of a raw material there is no distinction associated with the commodity as the item is abundant, whereas farther from the source, where access is intermittent, the possession of such commodities may acquire greater symbolic importance (Knapp 1990: 161;Renfrew 1986). It follows that if one moves from a place where a product is scarce and found in ritual contexts, towards the source of that product such that it becomes less scarce, one may observe a reduction in ritual or exclusive association for that group of goods. This theme will be considered with obsidian use in the Lake Titicaca region.

Furthermore, what of those who transport exotic goods? Mary Helms argues that "we should consider long-distance travelers or contact agents as political-religious specialists, and include them in the company of shamans, priests, and priestly chiefs and kings as political-ideological experts or 'heroes' who contact cosmically distant realms and obtain politically and ideologically useful materials therefrom" (1992: 159). These agents are in a position to benefit, in an entrepreneurial way from the value difference, between the source and the consumption zone, but in many cultural contexts their participation and social roles appear to be circumscribed. The association of non-local goods with status or prestige, long-distance alliance or esoteric knowledge is contingent on a variety of factors upon which it is difficult to generalize, but one can examine these archaeologically through artifact form and context.